By Kennedy Sheyin
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), in collaboration with Natural Eco Capital have called on Nigerian businesses to play their part in preserving the natural environment.
The call was made during the inauguration of the “Nigeria Business Action Plan For Biodiversity (BAP)” on Wednesday in Abuja.
The event had as theme “Strengthening Business Engagement in Nigeria’s Biodiversity Agenda”.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General of NCF, Dr Joseph Onoja, said that preserving biodiversity was important because nature was the number one capital responsible for sustaining every business, regardless of the sector.
“It is important for businesses to get involved in nature preservation because it ultimately determines the eventual profitability of any business.
“A typical example is what happened in Nepal. When nature is neglected over time and decides to act back, it destroys whatever is in its way,” he said.
He noted that biodiversity had become a priority all over the world, adding that Nigeria had not been left behind as the country had adopted and domesticated the cause to serve her unique needs through the Nigeria’s National Biodiversity Action Plan (NBSAP) 2025-2030.
He also noted that adopting the framework alone was not enough, adding that the implementation was just as important.
According to him, this prompted the formulation of the implementation action plan.
“The idea is to have an action plan, co-created with businesses to see how businesses can ensure that their processes, actions and policies do not harm the environment.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that this is the first biodiversity business implementation action plan inaugurated in Nigeria.
Onoja urged businesses to utilise the action plan drafted as a tool kit and manual to implement the protection of nature and biodiversity into their operations.
Also speaking, the Director-General of Natural Eco Capital, Dr Eugene Itua, said that the need to involve businesses into the preservation of nature was beneficial to them.
Itua noted that the private sector was not really nature conservative in the conduct of their businesses, adding that the observation led to the foundation forming the biodiversity action plan for the private sector.
“This plan will support the private sector to protect nature and the environment that they themselves depend on for their raw materials.
“It has also been tailored in a way that makes it easy for integration into their business decisions and will ultimately help them understand how their activities impact and depend on nature,” he said.
He said that going forward; the action plan sought to avoid the avoidable damage on the environment, fix the existing problems and prevent upcoming threats from reaching a stage where they become a major problem.
Similarly, the Director-General of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Charles Odii, said the agency was ready to partner with the foundations to ensure successful implementation of the action plan.
Odii, represented by the Assistant Director, Engineering, Technology and Infrastructure in SMEDAN, David Aiyenigba, also highlighted the importance of aligning economic growth with stewardship of natural heritage.
“For a long time, the dialogue between economic development and environmental conservation was too often framed as a trade-off. Today, we are turning the page on that outdated view.
“By inaugurating this action plan, the business community demonstrates that sustainable enterprise with SME-inclusive and robust ecosystem are not opposing forces but mutually dependent.
“By integrating concrete biodiversity targets into concrete cooperative strategy, it is no longer just a corporate social responsibility initiative, but a smart risk management, sound economics and essential leadership,” he said.
He noted that the action plan provided a strategic roadmap for businesses and enterprises of all sizes to assess and reduce environmental footprints across value chain, Invest in nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration.
Odii also noted that realising the vision of the framework would require continuous, ambitious, accountability and bold innovation.
“May this action plan serve as a catalyst for new cross-sector partnership, transformative business practices and long-time commitment to our shared natural capital developments.
“SMEDAN will put in work to turn these strategic commitments into lasting impacts for the economy, the community and the planet,” he assured.
The event, organised in partnership with Business for Nature, brought together stakeholders from the Ministry of Environment, the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), lawmakers, partner foundations and other relevant stakeholders.(NAN)(NAN)
Edited by Deborah Coker